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medical

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Intended to have a therapeutic effect.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mehduhkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɛdəkəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Relating to the study or practice of medicine

  2. Of or pertaining to the practice of medicine.

  3. Pertaining to or requiring treatment by other than surgical means.

  4. Pertaining to medication specifically (that is, pharmacotherapy), rather than to other aspects of medicine and surgery.

  5. Pertaining to the state of one's health.

  6. Requiring or amenable to treatment by medicine especially as opposed to surgery

noun

  1. informal

    A thorough physical examination; includes a variety of tests depending on the age and sex and health of the person

  2. informal

    A medical examination.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Relating to the study or practice of medicine

Used this way, medical is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

medical associationmedical researchmedical servicesmedical journal

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • medicallyadverbDerived adverb

    Involving medical practice.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • medical assistantnounCompound term

    A person trained to assist medical professionals.

  • medical billnounCompound term

    Statement of charges for medical services.

  • medical buildingnounCompound term

    Building where medicine is practiced.

  • medical carenounCompound term

    Professional treatment for illness or injury.

  • medical centernounCompound term

    The part of a city where medical facilities are centered.

  • medical checkupnounCompound term

    A thorough physical examination.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.